Flash Forward

Things are coming together for National Flash Fiction Day. The judging for the micro-fiction competition is well under way. I've made my selection from the whole intake, so the next step is for Calum Kerr to juice the input from all the judges into a longlist for us to pick through.

To get some idea of who's coming to the BristolFlash events on Saturday 27th June, I've set up some Facebook events:

Flash Fiction Workshop at Bristol Central Library, from 13:30 to 16:30.

An Evening of Flash Fiction readings at Foyles, from 18:00 to 20:00.

An Evening of Drinks and Conversation somewhere nearby, from 20:00.

Please sign up and spread the word!

And to help spread the word, I will be appearing on Ujima Radio this Wednesday at midday. Cheryl Morgan will be talking to me about flash and fiction and NFFD, and I'll read a couple of very short pieces on air.

As a warm-up for NFFD, I'll be running a short flash writing workshop at BristolCon Fringe on Monday 22nd June, which will be followed by a flash-themed open mic. The Monday before that I'll be reading at Talking Tales again.

Looking back — yeah, I know, this post's title is all about forward, but with so many steps forward I think I can afford to take a couple back — "What I Tell You Three Times Is True", my runner-up flash in the Retreat West competition, has now appeared in the Retreat West anthology, Inside These Tangles, Beauty Lies. And — second step — my Sunday selection of four flash tales appeared on 101 Words last weekend, along with my reasons for choosing them.

Bristol in a Flash

National Flash-Fiction Day. It's back. And so are we. Saturday 27th June. Bristol. In a flash.

Yup, that's right, NFFD with all the BristolFlash trimmings — a micro-fiction comp (now closed, but if you've entered, don't give me any clues as I'm judging), an anthology (submissions still open, but hurry), workshops on the day (at the Bristol Central Library) and readings in the evening (at Foyles, Cabot Circus) — is back to make you wonder how you managed the last year without it.

The workshop sessions are free and will be led by NFFD director Calum Kerr and local prize-winning author Ken Elkes, from 13:30 to 16:30 at the Central Library.

Then, from 18:00 to 20:00 and also free, we'll be upstairs at Foyles, enjoying flash fiction readings from the following great line-up (and me):

Judy Darley
Ken Elkes
Zoe Gilbert
Kevlin Henney
Sarah Hilary
Susan Howe
Calum Kerr
Adam Marek
Freya Morris
Grace Palmer
Jonathan Pinnock
Jane Roberts
Diane Simmons

And then we'll go off for a drink or two to discuss the brevity of British summers, attention spans and flash fiction.

This year, the organisation and thought-wrangling for this event has been between me, Sarah Hilary, Freya Morris and Pete Sutton.

See you there? See you there!

Talking Tales

It's all happening on Stokes Croft. A couple of months back I was at Let Me Tell You a Story, Jack, at the Crofters Rights, and a couple of weeks back Stokes Croft Writers kicked off their spoken word event, Talking Tales. It was packed and buzzing, with a great line-up of readers and tales and drinks and conversation.

I was there for the first half, and read "On Taking Measures to Eliminate Fair Play",  but unfortunately had to head off before the second half. The good news is that even if you weren't there for either half, you can listen to a podcast of the event.

The next event is Monday 15th June — if you're a writer, consider submitting something — and my plan is to make this one a game of two halves.

Writing Mapped

Following on neatly from last time, the Writing Maps A3 Review #2 contains my flash, "Things in My Life that Are Blue".

Keeping it short and flashy — although perhaps a little darker — "What I Tell You Three Times Is True" was the runner-up in the Retreat West November 2014 flash fiction competition. It will be published this month in an anthology of winners. For more immediate flashisfaction, my 100-word metafiction, "Drabble on the Line", was published by the Flash Fiction Magazine last week.

At somewhat greater length, "Schrödinger's Pizza" has been republished in the Stroud Short Stories 2011–2015 anthology; I read at the Valentine's Day event in 2012. The launch event for the anthology is tomorrow night, but sadly I can't make it.